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Mystery of the Modern World
by Quaphys.info
In an article for U.S. News & World Report, Charles W. Petit provides an explanation for Earth's great change, or the "Great Unflood," as believed by this geologist at the University of California. It was around a billion years ago when land arose from the sea, in essence, the beginning of the seasons and the process of evolution. Petit says that Eldridge Moores, geologist, used ancient rock studies to confirm the arrival of continents from a "planet previously 95 percent under water." (Petit, 37)
There is a new theory of Earth having been covered with more water than land, that is, up until a billion years ago. As the ocean became deeper, the continents were kept from being flooded, as was the case in times before. The theory says that only mountaintops were visible around 1.1 billion years ago and would have had the appearance of a chain of islands. Then, 1 billion years ago, the supercontinent, Rodinia, was made visible. Rodinia, was made of all of our presently known continents.
This could explain the rise in atmospheric oxygen, and, possibly, multicellular life, but most geologists are being cautious with the use of this theory. While some consider it similar to the myth of the great flood of Noah in the Bible, others use it to take a different look at Earth's differing systems.
Moores has given 35 years of his life to reading the rocks, ores, and chunks of eroded ocean crusts, called ophiolites. He believes that the oldest ophiolites are carrying rich copper, silver, and gold mines, which are the result of continents colliding one with the other. From studying the ophiolites, Moores says the sea floor became thin before sinking around a billion years ago resulting in a 1,000 foot drop in sea level. This allowed the supercontinent, Rodinia, to emerge around 100 million years ago.
With the resulting continental interiors being away from the sea, annual temperature swings would have begun with distinct seasons. The ocean would have had strong new winds bringing nutrients from the newly emerged land causing a growth in microscopic plant life and resulting in higher oxygen levels. Moores believes these actions could have resulted in multicelled organisms evolving. "And thus, says Moores, the modern world was born." (Petit, 37)
Source:
1. Petit, Charles W. U.S. News & World Report: "The wet planet." U.S. News & World Report, Inc.: NY, USA. Volume 132, No. 3. January 28 - February 4, 2002. p.37.
Further Study:
U.S. News & World Report Classroom Program.
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